Powerpoint slides introducing the Legislative Council

Knowing your Legislative Council

Transcript

Thank you for browsing the information

prepared by the Education Service Team of

the Legislative Council Secretariat. To enhance your understanding of the work of

the Legislative Council, I am going to

introduce to you the composition and

functions of the Legislative Council.

(00:00)

Legislative Council:

The Basic Law stipulates that the Hong Kong

Special Administrative Region shall be vested with legislative power and the

Legislative Council shall be the Legislature

of the Region.

(00:18)

Composition of the Legislative Council:

The Legislative Council has 70 Members,

with 35 returned by geographical

constituencies through direct elections, and

the other 35 by functional constituencies. The term of office of Members is four years.

The President of the Legislative Council is

elected by and from among Members.

(00:33)

Geographical constituency election:

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is divided into five geographical

constituencies, namely Hong Kong Island,

Kowloon West, Kowloon East, New

Territories West and New Territories East. The number of seats for each geographical

constituency is determined by the size of its

population. The five geographical

constituencies have a total of 35 seats.

(00:58)

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Functional constituency election:

Of the 70 Legislative Council Members, 35

are returned by 29 functional constituencies

representing different sectors of the community. Apart from the Labour and

District Council (Second) functional

constituencies which return three and five

Members respectively, one Member is returned by each of the other 27 functional

constituencies.

(01:28)

Powers and functions of the Legislative

Council:

As provided for in Article 73 of the Basic

Law, the Legislative Council exercises 10 powers and functions.

(01:55)

(02:09)

Functions of the Legislative Council:

To sum up, the Legislative Council has three main functions: enacting laws, approving

public expenditure, and monitoring the work of the Government.

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Enact laws:

The Government of the Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region and Legislative

Council Members may introduce bills into the Legislative Council to propose new

legislation, and to amend or repeal existing

legislation. Under Article 74 of the Basic

Law, bills introduced by Members must not relate to public expenditure, political

structure or the operation of the Government.

After a bill has been published in the Gazette,

it has to go through a three-reading procedure in the Legislative Council before it is passed.

There are three main stages in the three-

reading procedure, namely First Reading, Second Reading and Third Reading.

First Reading is nothing more than the Clerk

to the Legislative Council reading out the short title of the bill at a Council meeting.

Immediately following the First Reading, the public officer or Member in charge of the bill

moves a motion that "The bill be read the

second time" and explains the main purpose

of the proposed legislation.

To allow Members more time to scrutinize

the bill, normally the debate on the bill is adjourned after the motion for Second

Reading is moved. Then the bill is referred

to the House Committee which will decide

whether a Bills Committee should be formed to scrutinize the bill.

After the Bills Committee completes the scrutiny of the bill, the Second Reading

debate on the bill resumes at a Council

meeting. At this stage, Members may debate

on the general merits and principles of the bill and vote upon whether the bill should

receive its Second Reading. If the bill is

supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it shall stand committed to a

committee of the whole Council which

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examines details of the bill clause by clause.

Members may also propose amendments to the bill. After the committee of the whole

Council completes consideration of the bill,

the Legislative Council resumes. The public

officer or Member in charge of the bill reports the bill to the Legislative Council

with or without amendments and moves a

motion that the report be adopted. Members will vote upon the motion without

amendment or debate. If the motion is

agreed to, the bill proceeds to Third Reading

with the public officer or Member in charge of the bill moving a motion that "The bill be

read the third time and do pass". Members

may speak on the contents of the bill and vote.

After going through the three-reading

procedure, the bill passed by the Legislative Council shall take effect only after it is

signed and promulgated by the Chief

Executive. The Chief Executive promulgates the law enacted by the Legislative Council

through publication in the Gazette. The

Government will report the enacted law to

the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for record.

Voting procedures:

According to the Basic Law and the Rules of Procedure, there are two voting procedures in

the Legislative Council. The passage of

motions, bills or amendments introduced by the Government shall require at least a

simple majority vote of Members present.

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The passage of motions, bills or amendments

introduced by individual Members shall require a simple majority vote of each of the

two groups of Members present. The first

group comprises the Members returned by

functional constituencies and the second group comprises those returned by

geographical constituencies.

(05:38)

Approve public expenditure:

The Financial Secretary introduces into the

Legislative Council, usually in February each

year, the Appropriation Bill and the Government's Estimates of Expenditure for

the scrutiny by the Legislative Council. The

Financial Secretary's speech to move the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill is

generally known as the Budget Speech. The

financial proposals need the examination and

approval by the Legislative Council before they can be implemented.

In addition, during a financial year, the Financial Secretary may propose to the

Finance Committee of the Legislative

Council changes to the approved Estimates of

Expenditure.

(06:00)

Monitor the work of the Government:

At Council meetings, Members may raise

questions to the Government concerning its work, either to seek information or ask for

official action with regard to a particular

matter. In addition, to monitor the work of the Government, Members may debate

motions with no legislative effect to express

their views on issues concerning public

interest or call on the Government to take certain actions.

The Public Accounts Committee considers reports of the Director of Audit on the

Government's accounts, and the results of

value for money audits of the Government

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and other organizations which are within the

purview of public audit.

In addition, the Legislative Council

establishes Panels to monitor and examine

government policies.

Members conduct site visits to obtain first-

hand information on certain subject matters

to facilitate deliberations on government policies and issues of wide public concern.

The Legislative Council also operates a

Redress System to receive and handle complaints from members of the public who

are aggrieved by government actions or

policies.

(07:34)

Legislative Council meetings:

The Legislative Council normally meets on

Wednesdays in the Legislative Council Chamber to conduct its business while in

session. The business transacted at regular

Council meetings mainly includes: subsidiary

legislation, questions, bills and motions.

(07:58)

The President of the Legislative Council

presides over Council meetings and ensures

the smooth conduct of meetings.

Legislative Council Members raise questions

on the work of the Government, enact laws

and debate issues concerning public interest.

Public officers answer questions raised by

Members, introduce legislative proposals and respond to motions moved by Members.

The Clerk to the Legislative Council assists

the President of the Legislative Council at

Council meetings.

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Committee system:

Legislative Council Members perform duties

such as scrutinizing bills, approving public

expenditure and monitoring the work of the Government through a committee system.

There are three standing committees in the

Legislative Council.

The Finance Committee scrutinizes and

approves public expenditure proposals.

The Public Accounts Committee considers reports of the Director of Audit on the

Government's accounts, and the results of

value for money audits of the Government and other organizations which are within the

purview of public audit.

The Committee on Members' Interests considers complaints made in relation to

Members’ registration and declaration of

interests, and their conduct concerning claims for reimbursement of operating expenses, as

well as matters of ethics in relation to

Members' conduct in their capacity as such.

Apart from the three standing committees,

there are other committees in the Legislative

Council. The Committee on Rules of Procedure reviews the Rules of Procedure

and the committee system. The Committee

on Access to the Legislature's Documents and

Records determines whether a document or record of the Legislature (or its committee)

should be made available for access earlier

than the expiry of the closure period specified in the Policy on Access to the

Legislature's Documents and Records. The

House Committee prepares for Council

meetings and considers matters relating to Council business. Bills Committees consider

the general merits and principles of bills, and

scrutinize the provisions of bills in detail. Panels monitor and examine government

policies. An investigation committee gathers

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information relevant to the censure motion

moved under the Rules of Procedure and gives its views on whether or not the facts as

established constitute grounds for the censure

of the Member concerned. The Legislative

Council may also appoint select committees to consider in depth the matters or bills

referred by the Legislative Council.

The Finance Committee, House Committee,

Bills Committees and Panels may appoint

respective subcommittees to assist them in

the performance of their functions.

Know more about the Legislative Council:

We hope that this presentation can help you understand more about the work of the

Legislative Council.

(11:01)

If you would like to get more information,

please visit the "Education" section on the Legislative Council Website at

www.legco.gov.hk. Thank you.

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